THE cold snap could kill one elderly person every seven minutes, an expert warned last night.

Age UK’s charity director Caroline Abrahams said almost a million elderly people are in danger of dying because they cannot afford to heat their homes.

She called on the Government to help end “the scandal of fuel poverty and preventable winter deaths”.

Ms Abrahams said: “The cold weather can be particularly dangerous for older people who are more at risk of suffering health problems when the temperature drops.

“It’s a shocking fact that this winter one older person could die every seven minutes from the cold.

“With just under one million older people living in fuel poverty, many simply cannot afford to heat their homes to a temperature high enough to keep warm and well.

“We are calling for the Government to commit to improving the energy efficiency of homes across the country in order to provide a long-lasting solution to the scandal of fuel poverty and preventable winter deaths.”

It’s a shocking fact that this winter one older person could die every seven minutes from the cold

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK

The cold snap will also add to the “unprecedented” pressures faced by the NHS this winter.

Yesterday it emerged that desperately overcrowded A&E departments across the country are still failing to meet waiting time targets.

Last week just 89.8 per cent of patients seeking urgent medical help were seen by a nurse or doctor within four hours – well short of the stated aim of 95 per cent.

The latest figures were, however, an improvement on the previous week’s figure of 86.7 per cent of patients.

Dame Barbara Hakin, NHS England’s national director of commissioning operations, said: “Although we have seen a slight easing in the number of attendances and emergency admissions to A&E, the NHS continues to face unprecedented pressures on its frontline services – particularly A&E, the telephone 111 service and ambulance services.”

Health Department figures showed 389,377 patients attended A&E units in the week ending January 11, almost 18,000 fewer than the previous week but around 6,000 up on the same week last year.

There were also high levels of emergency admissions, with a total of 105,200 – up 3,400 on last year.

The figures came as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance saying there should be one nurse for every four A&E cubicles and two registered nurses to one patient in cases of major trauma or cardiac arrest.